Grain cleaning and separating machine



Aug. 9, 1932. c. c. INGRAHAM GRAIN CLEANING AND SEPARATING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 26, 1930 g- 9, 1932- c. c. INGRAHAM 1,870,629

GRAIN CLEANING AND SEPARATING MACHINE Filed May 26,1930 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 9, 1932- c. c INGRAHAM 1,870,629

GRAIN CLEANING AND SEPARATING MACHINE Fi led May 26. 1950 e Sheets-Sheet 5 Aug. 9, 1932- c. c. INGRAHAM GRAIN CLEANING AND SEPARATING MACHINE Filed May 26, 1930 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 7 7 a w H .n M K H: M i Ii .H L I... H M k. w H 2 I! /r 5 4 W "W HQ 0 m u 4, Z 4 l my a Vi W J W W q I. F $3 fi W 4 a M 7 J u r 4 I y W71 2 u n r W H J l l-l lllll'l 7 m) V "Q m a 2 iimzfov/ Jazz 9, c c. INGRAHAM 1,870,629'

GRAIN CLEANING AND SEPARATING MACHINE Filed May 26, 1930 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 J v 0 Q I N v LZYUJZ/di ijgrazam Aug. 9, 1932' c. c, INGRIAHAM 1,870,629

GRAIN CLEANING AND SEPARATING MACHINE Filed May 26, 1930 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Patented Aug. 9, 1932 PATENT QFFECE CHARLES C. INGRAHAM, F MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA GRAIN CLEANING AND Application filed. May 26,

' My invention provides a self-contained or complete machine of large capacity, in proportion to size, for the cleaning of grain and the separation of certain desirable grain,

such as wheat and oats, from materials foreign thereto, such as straw, chaff, sand, dust and small seeds. In this improved machine, the connningled stock, consistin usually of good wheat and oats commingled with chaff, n small seeds, sand, dust, and the like, are delivered to the machine and are separated in a novel manner or order of operation, whereby the capacity of the machine is increased and the power required to effect the cleaning '15 and-separating actions is reduced to a minimum. In accomplishing these results, the commingled stock is first subjected to a mechanical sifting action wherein a scalping screen is employed and by which straw, sticks .20 and materials coarser than wheat and oats are separated from the main stock. By a second mechanical sifting action, the wheat, oats and liner materials are subjected to a second-or underlying screen, the meshes of r which are finer than those of the upper screen and through which all materials finer than wheat and oats and including sand and dust will pass, and will thereby beseparated from the wheat and oats. The wheat and oats relieved from nearly all of the coarse and fine foreign materials, sand and dust but containing a small percentage of light foreign materials or materials that will pass with wheat and oats through the upper screen but will not pass through the lower screen, are subjected to the air current or blast from an aspirator, andthus the final separation of the relatively small amount of foreign materials from the wheat and oats is accomplished pneumatically. Moreover, the three above noted separating actions are simultaneously carried on in the same self-contained machine. I

The screens employed are preferably of the inclined gyratory type, the vibratory movements of which are somewhat modified from the usual gyratory movement, in that the sieve structure, near its delivery end, is permitted free forward and rearward movements in, the direction of the inclination of SEPARATING MACHINE 1930. Serial No. 455,742.

the screens, but is restrained to little or no lateral movements. In sieve structures of this character, there is a tendency of the stock to be drifted toward one side of the sieve structure so that the wheat and oats delivered from the sieve structure will not be spread in an even sheet. Where this sieve structure is combined with an aspirating duct for pneumatic separating action, the delivery of the grain to the latter in a thin and very evenly spread out sheet is of great importance. as an important feature of theinvention, I have accomplished this desired and proper delivery of the wheat and oats to the aspirator air current 01' blast, by restraining the lateral movement of the sieve structure not at its very delivery end, but considerably back of its delivery end, all as will be hereinafter more fully explained. Also as an important feature I provide, over the scalping screen near its delivery end, a retarding device of novel construction and relative arrangement which performs an important function also hereinafter more fully explained. i 7} The accompanying drawings illustrate a commercial machine embodying the several featu es of the invention.

Referring to these drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section taken through the complete machine on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2, some parts being shown in full;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation with some parts sectioned 0n the line 2-2 of, Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken approximately on the line 33 of Fig. 1, some I parts being broken away;

Fig. l is a transverse section taken approximately-on the line l4.- of Fig. 1; r i

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken approximately on the line 55 of Fig. 1, some parts being broken away; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view partly in side elevation but with some parts broken away and some parts sectioned showing the rear or delivery end of the machine.

The various parts of the self-contained 100 machine are enclosed in a suitable housing preferably in the form of a main or outer sheet metal shell 7 properly braced and reinforced, and divided into a main lower compartment 8 and an upper or aspirator compartment 9 by a hopper-like partition 10. The screen structure and its co-operating parts are mounted in the lower compartment 8 and as shown, this sieve structure comfiner meshed screen 13.

prises a suitable sieve-carrying shoe 11 equipped with two-main. sieves, to wit: an upper or scalping screen 12,-and a. lower and The sieves 12 and 13 are inclined longitudinally of the machine or toward theirdelive-ry ends and underlying said sieves 12 and 13, respectively, and suitably spaced therefrom by beveled partition straps 14 are coarse mesh sieves or screens 12a and 13a, that retain cleaning balls 15 in position under the said screens 12 and 13.

- Rigidly secured to the head of the shoe 11 is a flanged bracket 16, the central portion of which is in the form of an eccentric strap mounted on a crank-acting eccentric 17 carried by the short vertical shaft 18 journaled in a gear housing 19 rigidly anchored by base members 20 to the bottom of thecasing. \Vithin the housing 19 are intermeshing bevel gears 21 and 21a, the latter of which is connected to the crank shaft 18. The delivery end portion of the shoe 11 is supported with freedom for longitudinal vibratory'movements imparted thereto by the crank-acting eccentric 17, but is'held against lateral movements to a considerable extent by supporting and restraining means that are located considerably rearward. of the wheat and oats delivery portion of the shoe and for a purpose already noted. This supporting and restraining means, as here illustrated, comprises bearing feet or brackets 22 that rest loosely on wearin g blocks 23 mounted in supports 24 secured to the sides of the casing 7, as best'shown in Figs. 2, 4 and 5. Rigidly secured to the supports 24 and extending transversely of the machine. below the sieve shoe is a crosstie rod 25 on which is securedv an abutment bracket 26. On the bottom of the sieve shoe is a thrust bracket 27. A transverse thrust link 28 is connected by a ball and socket or similar joints to the two brackets 26 and27. This link 28 per mits the free, forward and rearward movements of the lower portion of the sieve shoe but causes that portion of the sieve shoev to which it is connected to partake of nearly straight-line forward and rearward movetutes the bottom of a box-like receptacle 30 that is secured to the sieve shoe and extends nearly or quite the width of the screen 12. The comm'ingled stock is delivered to the machine through a supply spout 31 provided above the same said shoe is provided with a transversely inclined screenings-delivery trough 35. The deck 34 receives the wheat and oats from the screen 13 while the trough 35 receives the screenings from the upper screen 12. This trough 35, as shown, delivers into a discharge spout 36 that opens through one side of the casing 7 and, as shown, is provided with a lightly gravity-closed door 37. The sieve shoe 11 below the lowermost screen is provided with a hopper-like bottom 38 that discharges through a flexible spout 39.

Carried by the upper portion of the shoe ll but terminating short of the delivery end thereof, to leave a space for the retarding device hereinafter described is a cover sheet 40 that is impervious to dust and may be canvas or the like. There is a strong tendency for dust to rise from the receiving and major portion of the screen 12 and the purpose of this cover is to prevent the rising of dust and to hold the dust with the stock until the dust has all passed downward through the screens 12 and 13. In practice, it has been found that this cover 40 prevents the escape of dust into the atmosphere so that under the action of the machine, dust and sand will be precipitated into the hopper-like bottom 38. Positioned to receive the wheat and oats from the discharge deck 34 is an open bottom hopper 41, the rear side of which at its top is connected to the receiving end of the settling chamber 9 by a wide air duct 42. In the rear wall of the air duct 42 is a norinally closed hinged door 43 and in the inner wall of said air duct is a sectional jointed normally closed door 44. When the doors 43 and 44 are opened access to the screens for the application or removal thereof and access to other parts hereinafter to be noted is made an easy matter. a

.T n the arrangement shown, the clean wheat and oats delivered from the deck 34 drop directly onto a deflecting plate 45, from thence onto a deflecting board 46 and from thence dropped through the bottom of the hopper 41. The housing 7 at suitable points is provided with air intake passages shown as in the form of louvers 4.7 and 48, best shown in Fig. 1. Also the front Wall of the housing is shown as provided with a normally closed hinged door 49, which when opened, affords access to the crank and interior structure.

The hopper-l ke bottom portion of the aspirator chamber 9 affords a settling chamber and at the extreme bottom thereof is a trans- .portion of the chamber 9 and adapted to b V v or ad acent the pulley 7 9 is provided with a smaller pulley 81 that aligns with a larger pulley]82 on the outwardly projected end tasteles ie di pose s ra eenve e 9 tha $1 1 liversvto i i h rg spout-ia errl s teter I side of the housing fiend, as shoyvnns, provided, with a lightly; gravityiclosed door-.52.

- The re r rt e th as retbe el e e fi is connected to the eyes gf laterally spaced fan housings 53 that are providedqvith air .dischargefspouts 54: and within which, are i na-led in, an extension of the gear housing 19 U and carries the gear 21, thereby transmitting motion to the crank ereccentrio 17. At its fa ea -r d by C wman te l hefi 56 journaled insuitable, hearings in the sides I of the rear extension ,chamber i). the chamber 9 are, deflecting bafiles 57 i that {leilect the screenings or chaff-ladenair currents downward and I assist in. the. precipitation of i the chali and lightscreenings tothe hopperlike bottom of said chamber. The numeral 58 indicates ahinged door appliedto the rear frictionallyheld closed, opened or partially I opened bya toggle link 59 that has frictional joints. This doo1w.Wl1h,.partly op en will modify and reduce the fan 'suctionon the air duct 42 and chamber .9,andtherehy reduce the rapidity of therflow of air.

The flow retarding device; before, referred to, in its preferred-form, is constructed, and

arranged as follows A pair of sprocketchains ;6 0 ,are arra nged to run over'spr-ockets 61 and 62lcarried,r,respectively, by shafts63 and; 64 mounted, in an oscillatory frame made ,upof laterally spaced plates 65 andone or,m ore tie'.,rods or members,'66. The upperportions oft-he plates 65 are'ejournaled Qnatransverseshaft 67 which, in turn, isv jvdurnaled in suitable bearings on the sides ,of'the 'casihgi'i. The two sprocket ehainsZ6O carrvparallel spaced bars 68 provided b with [projecting jbladesg69 preferably of flexible material such as leather 'orrubber belting that have such. projection lthat thevrun close. to. but slightl outioff con- .tact with. thelupper surface of v.thelscalpi'ng screen 12, when the. retarding device: is set-for operation, asshown by fulllin'es iii-Fig. 11.

' Extreme downward movement of the, plates 65,is limited by stops :70, see;Figf 1, .onuthe sides of'the housing? Asa simple means for temporarily securing the retarding device in an upturned lnoperativeflposlti-on shown by dotted lines inFig. 1 and; biyifu-lli lines in Fig.6, a chain 71 is attached'lto one 'ofthe frame plates 65 and islinterlockably engageand are so spaced that somewthereof, and

preferably several, willbe constantly-in position to"retardto engage thesto ck' or mate. rial on the screen. Otherwise stated,.there is no time whilethe retarding device is positloned for action when the stock can .flow

freely past the blades thereof.

In the machine illustrated, the driving connections .fonthmmovable parts above deover a pulley76 on a shaft -77 that is jourop posite end shaft/56 carries a pulley 78. that aligns with a pulley 79fon the shaft 50a of the spiral conveyor 50. A belt 80 runs over the .pulleys 78 and79 and drives the spiral con- J .veyor 50 in. the direction to feed the precipi I mm1.;maaria1 into .and out through the discharge spout 51. Shaft 50a of spiral conveyoffthe shaft 67-before noted. On the opposite'end of shaft 67 is a. small sprocket 83 that aligns with a larger sprocket 84 on one end ofa ,countershaft 85 that is journaled in the frame plates 65.

andSL At its opposite end, countershaft85 is provided with a sprocket88 that is aligned i with a sprocket 89 on one end of a sprocket shaft 61, see particularly Figs. 1 and 3. For .the connections last described, the beltequipped endless retarding device will be driven in the direction of the arrows, marked on,Fig.- 1,, that is, the lower belts of said re tarding device will move inthe direction of travel of the stock overthe scalping screen 12, butat a slow speed that isless than the speedat whi oh the stock will naturally travel onsaid screen when the machine is in action.

;..Sprocket chain 90 runs over sprockets 88 and ,89.

. Operation Underthe action of the crank 17, the up per or receiving portion of the sieve shoe will be given a true gyratory motion, that is, any particular point on the upper portion of the screen 12 will be caused to travel on theline A of a substantially true circle, but points pro-" gressivelyflu'ther' down on said screelrwill be caused to move on lines that deviate from a true circle and progressively follow increasing elliptical lines of travel, until at places above the thrust link 28, the assumed points on the sieve travelapproximately in straight lines forwardly and rearwardly. Assuming that the crank 17 rotates i n 'a counter-clockwise directionin respect to 5 and inclination will cause a drift of the stock onthe screens 12 and 13 in the direction of the arrow marked a on F ig 5 This drift is due tothefactthatthe screens, while moving forwardly in the direction of i'nclina-- 7 the movement of the sieve due to its gyration tion, are also moved toward the far side of the machine as viewed in Fig. 5; This lateral drift of the stock decreases as the stock approaches the line above the thrust link 28.

' By again referring to Fig. 5, it will be noted that those portions of the screens 12 and 13 and all of the discharge deck 34 that are in the direction of the travel of the stock beyond the link 28 will be given lateral movements just reverse from those given the upper portions of said screens and shoes, and, from this it follows that the lateral drift of the stock will be reversed beyond a vertical plane of the link 28, see arrow 6. This is important because it corrects the drift and spreads the stock'back to a condition in which the wheat and oatswill go .011 from the deck 34 and through the air current of the aspirator in an even sheet. Good air separation can be accomplished only when the stock is delivered through the air current evenly spread so First, by mechanical or screening operation all of the coarse materials are scalped off second, by a mechanical or screening action nearly all of the finer foreign materials including sandand dust are separated from the wheat and oats; and third, the wheat and oats nearly or almost cleared of both coarse and fine foreign materials and by an action carried out simultaneously with the mechanical separating actions, is subjected to a pneumatic separation. This pneumatic separation is made a very easy matter since the work left to be done pneumatically is reduced to a minimum, in that it is required to act only upon the wheat and oats and to carry therefrom only a comparatively small amount of light'foreign material. It, therefore, follows that the motive power required for this pneu- 'matic separation is much less than what would be required if performed on the stock before the first and second mechanical separations had taken place and, moreover, the separation of foreign materials from the wheat and oats ismuch more complete and, in fact, almost perfect in the'applicants above described arrangement and operation; Separation of the oats from the wheat may be ac complished by, any suitable means but preferably by a separator well known as the Carter disc separator.

The function and purpose of the retarding device consisting of the endless travelling belts or carriers 60 and its blades 69 will now be considered. When the commingled stock is fed downwardoverthe scalping screen 12 and 'as the amount of material on said screen is decreased, the tendency of the stock to ump and to increase the speed of forward travel is increased toward the delivery end of said scalping screen. To counteract and correct this action, the retarding device has .been provided.

'mits the use of a scalping screen that is very much shorter than would be absolutely necessary in-the absence of such retarding device. For example, to obtain approximately as good results as obtained in the machine illustrated, the scalping screen 12 would have to be approximately twice as long relative to the lower screen 13 as that illustrated l in the drawings and found efiicient in the improved machine. Of course, the cleaned wheat and oats will'be dropped out through the bottom of the hopper 41 while the light foreign materials picked up by the air will be precipitated into the hopper-like bottom of the aspirator chamber 9 and will'be discharged by conveyor 50. Air is supplied to the aspirating duct through the louvers 47 and 48 and is discharged from the fans through the air dischargespouts ofthe casings. The scalpings are discharged from the machine through trough 45 while the small seeds, dust and sand and foreign materials are discharged through spout 39; The balls 15 between the screens 12 and 12a and Band 13a by vibratory jumping movements keep the screens clean and prevent clogging thereof. Attention is again called to the fact that thisimproved machine is a complete selfcontained machine in which all of the operations described are carried out simultaneously but in the important order described.

(Vhat I claim is:

1....In'a grain separating machine, the comlateral motion restricting means applied to said shoe at a point spaced fromthe delivery end thereof. 1 2; The structure defined in claim 1, in further combination with pneumatic cleaning means arranged to produce a current of air through the sheet of nearly cleaned material, such as wheat and oats, discharged from said screen-equipped shoe.

3. The structure defined in claim 1, in which said shoe is provided with a second screen below the upper screen thereof, and in further combination with pneumatic cleaning means arranged to produce a current of air through the sheet of nearly cleaned ma terial, such as wheat and oats, discharged from the delivery end of said second screen of said shoe.

4. The combination with a vibratory sieve shoe having upper and lower screens, said lower screen being of finer mesh than said upper screen, of an endless traveling retarding device provided with projected retarding blades operative directly over a considerable part of the delivery end portion of said upper screen, and movable in the direction of travel of the stock, in further combination with means for imparting gyratory movements to the receiving end portion of said sieve shoe, lateral motion restricting means applied to said shoe below said retarding device and spaced from the delivery end of said shoe, and pneumatic cleaning means arranged to produce a current of air through the sheet of nearly cleaned wheat and oats discharged from said sieve-equipped shoe, said retarding device having a support independent of said shoe, and means for driving said endless retarding device to cause its operative portion to move over said screen in the direction of travel of the stock, said retarding device having a plurality of retarding blades so arranged that some thereof will be successively in an operative position on the material moving on said screen.

5. In a grain separating machine, the combination with a vibratory screenequipped shoe, of traveling flow retarding members located over and spaced from the screen of the shoe adjacent the delivery end portion thereof to permit passage of the stock thereunder, the preceding portions of the screen being unobstructed, said members being successively operative to control the movement of the ma terial on said screen toward the discharge end thereof.

6. In a grain separating machine, the combination with a vibratory screen-equipped shoe, of a traveling flow retarding device,

comprising a plurality of flexible blades spaced from the screen of the shoe adjacent the delivery end thereof, said blades being successively operative on the material advanced on the screen to control the movement thereof towards the discharge end of the screen.

7. In a grain separating machine, the combination with a vibratory screen-equipped shoe, of means for retarding movement of stock and evenly distributing the same over the delivery end portion of said screen, comprising an endless traveling member having stock engaging portions, said portions being supported to successivelyengage the stock a predetermined distance above the surface of the screen, whereby to permit passage of the stock thereunder.

8. In a grain separating machine, the combination with a screen-equipped shoe having its receiving end and central portions unobstructed, and means to impart a vibratory movement thereto whereby to freely advance stock thereon at a predetermined rate of flow, of traveling flow regulating members mounted in predetermined spaced relation to said screen over its delivery end portion,- and means to drive said members in the direction of the flow of stock and at a speed less than the normal travel thereof.

9. The structure defined in claim 5, in which said retarding members are mounted for movements bodily to and from an operative position, and stop means for positioning said members in predetermined spaced relation to the screen.

10. The structure defined in claim 5, in combination with means for mounting and imparting to said flow restricting members, feed retarding movement independent of the movement imparted to said shoe.

11. The structure defined in claim 5, in which said retarding device comprises power driven belt driving means, endless belts and a multiplicity of retarding lades carried by said belts, the efiective movements of the latter being in the direction of travel of material on the screen, and said blades being so arranged that some thereof will always be in an operative position slightly spaced above the surface of said screen.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

CHARLES C. INGRAHAM. 

